COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Sept. 2, 2011) – The U.S. women’s junior beach volleyball team of Tara Roenicke and Rebecca Strehlow advanced to the second round of the 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch Junior (under-21) World Championships on Friday in Halifax, Canada.

Roenicke (Alta Loma, Calif.), a defending junior world champion, and partner Strehlow (Long Beach, Calif.), who are ranked second in the main draw, won two matches on Friday to advance.

The U.S. team went finished pool play with a perfect 3-0 record by defeating Mexico’s 11th-ranked Sarahi Navarro and Gloria Itzel Santoyo Salazar, 17-21, 21-6, 15-9 in 35 minutes.

Roenicke and Strehlow moved on to the first round of single-elimination play where they beat Canada’s sixth-seeded Alexandra Hudson and Charlotte Sider, 21-8, 21-18 in 27 minutes.

"Playing with Tara makes me play better," Strehlow said. "She is a world champion and that makes me bring my level up. We also have a ton of fun together, which helps us win."

On Saturday, the U.S. pair will play Switzerland’s eighth-seeded Nina Betschart and Joana Heidrich in the quarterfinals. Should Roenicke and Strehlow win, they will advance to the semifinals, which will also be played on Saturday. The medal matches will follow on Sunday.

The two U.S. men’s teams at the Junior World Championships were both eliminated on Friday.

After going 1-1 on Thursday, the USA-1 team of Parker Kalmbach (Coto De Caza, Calif.) and Vaun Lennon (Westchester, Calif.), seeded third, lost its final pool play match on Friday, falling 21-18, 21-13 in 31 minutes to Switzerland’s 10th-seeded Mirco Gerson and Gabriel Kissling,

Kalmbach and Lennon still advanced to the first round, where they lost to Poland’s ninth-ranked Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak, 21-18, 21-10 in 28 minutes. They finished the tournament tied for ninth.

Kantor and Losiak won the 2010 FIVB Youth World Championship.

The USA-2 team of Ian Satterfield (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Chris Austin (Henderson, Nev.), seeded 23rd, also went 1-1 on Thursday and lost its final pool play match to Spain’s 14th-seeded César Menéndez Ortego and Kevin Medina Tejera, 21-17, 21-12 in 30 minutes.

However, the pair’s finish was not good enough to advance from pool play and the finished tied for 19th.